September jobs
Things to do in the No Dig Veg Garden in September
Ali’s Edibles
September is a busy time in the No Dig plot, and it is sometimes called the second spring due to the light conditions and is also a time for harvesting lots from the plot.
We have been busy getting in the last of the French and Runner beans, checking the sweetcorn every day and tomatoes, aubergines, cucumbers, courgettes, parsley, mint and basil are continuing to produce. Leeks, carrots, beetroot, celeriac and pumpkins are also nearly ready and will be by the end of the month.
When you have done the harvesting, what do you do with all the produce? I freeze a lot, dehydrate some and make of chutneys and relishes as they are delicious in the winter and make good Christmas presents. I am now sowing for next spring and for the dark days of winter; lettuces and mustards, red frills and green in the snow, rocket, land cress and greek cress. Japanese leaves such as Mizuna and Mibuna all perk up the winter salad and chervil is a really pretty delicate plant that withstood the hard winter of 2018. The other benefit being they last for months and do not get eaten by flea beetles in the winter!
In order to get ahead in the spring I sow parsley, spring cabbages and onions now and you could sow chards and kales that when planted out will stay small in winter but give a welcome crop in the hunger gap next spring.
At the end of September, I will be planting out the small plants in the polytunnel and outside under cloches to protect from the worst of the weather. They then put on growth through October and it gives us a harvest in November, December, and January when there is hardly any light at all. Spring onions will do their own thing!
Later in the month you can plant out the onion sets and garlic and broad bean seeds, although protect the seeds from mice if you can and sow in modules if you have a problem with that.
Summer raspberry and blackberry fruiting stems now need to be hard pruned. Keep removing the yellowing leaves from brassicas to keep it clean and less attractive to slugs. Once yellow they are not doing anything for the plant.
On empty areas think about green manures such as callente mustard as this has a naturally occurring gas which when released, helps clean the soil of soil borne pests by a process called bio fumigation. Try and keep on top of the weeds that have blown in on the plot grown this year especially following the wet of August, so you have less of a problem in the spring.
Finally start thinking about and gathering in compost you will need to spread over the plots in October -more on that next month…..